In other research, drivers told NHTSA they rarely consider traffic when deciding to use their phone.
Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show a 7.7% increase in motor vehicle traffic deaths in 2015. An estimated 35,200 people died in 2015, an increase from 2014 of 32,675 fatalities.
Although the data are preliminary and require additional analysis, the early NHTSA estimate shows 9 out of 10 regions within the United States had increased traffic deaths in 2015. The most significant increases came for pedestrians and bicyclists.
“Every American should be able to drive, ride or walk to their destination safely, every time,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We are analyzing the data to determine what factors contributed to the increase in fatalities and at the same time, we are aggressively testing new safety technologies, new ways to improve driver behavior, and new ways to analyze the data we have, as we work with the entire road safety community to take this challenge head-on.”
Part of the deadly problem is the ongoing economic recovery successfully managed by the Obama Administration. More Americans are driving more miles.
“But that only explains part of the increase – 94% crashes can be tied back to a human choice or error, so we know we need to focus our efforts on improving human behavior while promoting vehicle technology that not only protects people in crashes, but helps prevent crashes in the first place,” says NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark Rosekind
In response to early estimates of fatality increases, the agency convened a series of six regional safety summits throughout February and March. As a result of those buy generic ativan online summits, the agency is working to develop new tools that could improve behavioral challenges including drunk, drugged, distracted and drowsy driving; speeding; failure to use safety features such as seat belts and child seats; and new initiatives to protect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
In addition, when the final data are released later this summer, DOT and NHTSA will talk to state and local elected officials, technologists, data scientists and policy experts to join the Department in searching for more definitive answers and developing creative, open data-driven solutions to improve safety and reduce deaths caused by motor vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is also pressing forward with new guidance to promote the development of automated safety technologies which could greatly decrease the number of crashes. NHTSA hosted two public meetings on automated safety technologies, in advance of guidance that will be issued later this summer. NHTSA and FHWA are also working on the implementation of the new safety performance measures, which require States and metropolitan areas to set targets for reducing deaths among motorized and non-motorized road users.
You might remember that in March the Department of Transportation announced an agreement with automakers requiring more than 99% of new vehicles to have automatic emergency braking standard by 2022. In theory this safety technology could prevent thousands of crashes every year. The Department is also working to require vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems on new vehicles, a technology which could help drivers avoid or mitigate 70-80% of vehicle crashes involving unimpaired drivers. DOT is also working with researchers on technologies that could prevent drunk driving, which is responsible for close to one-third of highway deaths.
